Impressions and Comments: Contemporary Portuguese Photography

As part of its acts planned for Fotográfica 2010, Sala Parpalló—belonging to Diputación Provincial de Valencia—is opening the exhibition «Impressions and Comments: Contemporary Portuguese Photography», organised by Fundación Foto Colectania. The show features works from the two major collections of Portuguese photography: BESart-Colecção Banco Espírito Santo and Fundação de Serralves. Curated by João Fernandes, the exhibition is at once part of the act programmed for «La Mostra Portuguesa», the international festival which is taking place for the first time in Valencia with the collaboration of the Portuguese Embassy in Spain and Instituto Camões.

«Impressions and Comments: Contemporary Portuguese Photography» documents a new moment in art in Portugal, which has practically never been presented as such up until now. The show is one of the most wide-ranging international exhibitions of Portuguese photography. João Fernandes, the current director of Fundação de Serralves and curator of the exhibition, has put together photos and installations by 29 Portuguese artists. As he says, «the show will give rise to new readings that will enable a completely new questioning of the use of photography in different fields of contemporary art»

This exhibition features works from the two most important collections of Portuguese photography: BESart-Colecção Banco Espírito Santo and Fundação de Serralves. These major collections are very different yet at the same time complementary. While Colecção Banco Espírito Santo is focused exclusively on photography, the collection of Fundação de Serralves combines photography alongside other media such as painting, sculpture, drawing, installation, film and video. Both collections are widely considered as the important and pioneering of their kind in Portugal and both contain work by renowned Portuguese artists, though this exhibition is focused primarily on artists who have contributed decisively to rethinking the way of working with the photographic support, with a special mention for young artists. Their projects are impressions and comments on issues such as landscape, portraiture or the critical interpretation of social realities.